Some adventure weekend!
by LeoVans
Summary: Just my version of a battle royale fanfic. Characters aren't based on anyone in particular, just my own head. I have 10 chapters written so i'll post the others on if people like it, they just need a bit of editing.Please tell me what you think, cheers.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The coach the school was using was one of those old fashioned coaches, that had the psychedelic pattern on the seats, and if you looked at it for long enough, you'd start to feel sick. It was cruising along the expressway, and the skyline of the city could now be seen out of the left hand side windows. Slowly, it now seemed, the coach passed around the city and started to head towards the Atlantic shore.

Autumn Coast High, junior year, class A were sat on the bus, and the forty students were now becoming excitable. This year the school had decided to send the students on an activity weekend, which was being held on Freedman Island, some tiny little place in the middle of nowhere, about 2 hours off the coast of North Carolina. The bus pulled off the expressway and the scenery changed from a concrete jungle to one of peace and nature, much like the town on Autumn Coast, North East Virginia where the students were from.

Jack McTelford (male student #12) had been looking out of the window, observing the scenery changing, and looking forward to the few days ahead. He was sat on the aisle seat, which meant he had to look over Oliver Lloyd (male student #10) to see what was out there. Olly had his eyes closed and was listening to music on a CD player. Jack couldnt tell what it was, probably some kind of light rock, which was all he ever seemed to listen to. Olly was English, and his family had moved to Autumn Coast last year when his parents had been offered jobs in the area. The two of them hit it off straight away, as Olly was funny and clever and an all round nice guy. He was also able to speak to girls fairly easily, having the ability to make them laugh, where as Jack had always found this difficult, closing up when talking to a girl he liked. Even though Jack always thought of himself as fairly popular, deep down he was actually quite shy.

Jacks eyes moved from the window to Oliver, and noticed he was mouthing the words to the song in his ears. He laughed slightly and looked down at his own uniform. They must have been one of the only schools in America that still had a mandatory uniform, even when going on trips. There uniforms were pale blue jumpers, embroidered with the schools logo; a dramatic looking ACH all intertwined, as well as gray trousers (the girls had pleated gray skirts, which in most cases stopped short of the knee) and black shoes. Nobody paid attention to the shoes part though, as almost everyone wore trainers, especially today. Jack looked down at his trainers and realized he needed a new pair. His dark blue DCs were looking quite shabby. Maybe hed get the same ones in a different color. He liked the stonewashed ones, but they got dirty really easily. Whatever, these were going to get scruffier over this weekend. Hed have to get some more once they got back.

Jack looked up from his feet and down the aisle of the coach. They were sat just behind the middle of the bus on the left hand side. Hed wanted to sit at the back but the seats were already taken when he and Olly had gotten on. As his eyes moved along the students he noticed that everyone was sat in certain groups. Hed never really thought of it before but there were several little cliques of students in this class. Each bunched together on the coach, like members of some elite faction, which rivaled the others. It was odd, how young people seemed to form cliques, like mini support groups to help with the pressures of being a modern day teenager, each in different ways of course. God, life was so hard, Jack said to himself, smiling slightly.

He realized that Oliver and himself were sat and the front most row of the group which could only be described as the Jocks and Preps. Jack rolled his eyes at the thought of contributing to the great American clich that always included these sorts of groups, but then again it was true. He belonged to the popular guys, and just realising what he'd just thought made him cringe. Somebody please shoot me, he thought.

Behind Jack sat Joel Becker (male student #2), who would probably be described by outsiders, as the leader of the group. In truth they didnt really have a leader, but Joel was the most popular, and even though it killed Jack to admit it, the best looking guy in the class so the title would probably go to him. His ice blue eyes could stop any teacher dead in their tracks, and he knew how to wangle his way out of anything he didnt want to do. In short Joel Becker was the dude, but the dude surely knew it. Next to Joel was Stephen Delaney (male student #4) who was a typical jock, but he was nice when you got to know him and pretty loyal to his friends. Those who didnt know him though, would think he was an obnoxious bully, making fun of people for a cheap laugh. Jack suddenly felt guilty, as he always laughed.

Jack noticed that Olly was now knelt on his seat, facing the back to the bus. Jack glanced round, his imagination still roaming the bus and saw James Hunter (male student #6) perched above Stephens headrest. Oliver and him were discussing the positives and negatives of their upcoming SAT exams, and both were laughing intensely. What was it about Olly? James was a definite preppy, always looking well groomed and immaculate. His white shirt collars were tucked into his pale jumper, which Jack thought looked really unfashionable, but what the hell, everyone had their own style, and James was one of the better guys, never having to put anyone down to keep himself up. The rest of the preppy and jock boys were also sat behind, with the exception of Cory Matthews (male student #11) who was sat on the seat in front of Olly with Terri Chaney (female student #3), his girlfriend of the past 4 years. They were so intimate with one another, happy just to be left to their own devices. Terri was beautiful with long black tousled hair and eyes as dark as onyx. She could almost be scary looking if she wasnt so kind hearted and gentle voiced. He could hear her laughing. She had an infectious girly giggle, which made anyone who heard it grin.

Across the aisle from his group were the girls, or more specifically, the popular girls group. They had been the best looking girls ever since first grade. What was it with good-looking girls being friends with other good-looking girls? They always seemed to find each other and form an impenetrable circle. The most popular girl in the class was Kaitlyn Summers (female student #18 , who had the most beautiful golden blonde hair Jack had ever seen. Of course, she was dating Joel Becker (male student #2) and had been for almost a year. She was in the aisle seat across from his and they were holding hands but talking to other people, as if reaffirming that the other belonged to them (they were the most desired boy and girl in the whole school, even though they were only juniors). Kaitlyn was sat next to Katy Larson (female student #10) who was smiling at Kaitlyn as she was talking. Katy was pretty but not in the same league as her best friend. They had been close ever since childhood and the Two Kates, as they were known at school, were inseparable. Courtney Robinson (female student #17) was sat by herself in the seat in front of Kaitlyn; the spare seat was probably reserved for Terri Chaney, and she looked rather annoyed at being ditched by her friend in favor of a guy.

In front of the Popular girls were another group of girls, the neutrals, or nice girls as they could be referred to as. Sat on the aisle seat, directly in front and to the left of Jack, was Joanna Lowe (female student #12) who looked back and made eye contact with him before turning away, her face suddenly becoming flushed with embarrassment. Joanna had short blonde hair, and was rather pretty. There had been rumors around school that she had a crush on him, but Jack being as shy as he was, had never really acted upon them. In front of Joanna, Natalie Foster (female student #6) was knelt on her seat facing her, which meant that Amber Atkinson (female student #2) was certainly sat next to Joanna. Natalie wasnt really as pretty as the other two, but had this amazing personality that would never falter, and her incessant smiling always made her seem more attractive. Amber was the most quiet of the three, but had surprised Jack from time to time with her wickedly sarcastic sense of humor, saying the funniest things which would sometimes even rival Ollys humor. He liked their group, they were friendly and pretty, but without the undertones of bitchiness which were present in Kaitlyns group. Occasionally the two groups intermingled, as if the popular girls deemed the neutrals to be on their level, or maybe the level just below, but mostly they remained separate.

Jack began to smell smoke, and snapped out of his imaginary tour around the Autumn Coast students. He poked his head out into the aisle and looked to the back of the bus. Troy Redlow (male student #17) was sat in the center seat of the back row and had just lit up a cigarette, proceeding to smoke it as proudly and as in open view as he could get. He was such an idiot, trying to be as much of a delinquent as he possibly could. He guessed that his two cronies would be sat on his right, hanging on his every word, as his girlfriend, Amy Norton (female student #14) was sat on his left. Amy was attractive in a certain way, the rebel without a clue way, but didnt do anything for Jack. Also she was quite the troublemaker, just like her other half, and Jack preferred to have nothing to do with them. Her other delinquent friends were probably sat around there too, he could see what looked liked that back of Rachelle Ellinger (female student #5), the resident slut of ACH, on the seat in front of Amy. He shook his head and said quietly to himself stupid. It wasnt the fact that they were smoking; Jack had never really had a problem with that. Olly smoked (apparently a lot of English kids did), only the expensive ones of course, cheap cigarettes were the worst things in his book, it was just the fact that they were doing it on the coach as if to invite a telling off. If Olly could resist his cravings then surely they could. They probably only did it to look cool anyway, which was as far from the truth as Jack was concerned. He couldnt really see who was sat down the front. Most of the normal kids were probably down there, with the few losers in the class. God Im horrible, Jack thought.

Thomas Jennings (male student #8 stood up and opened the lock up above his head, pulling out a portable disk player, which he obviously had kept in his bag. The dull ceiling lights illuminated his greasy hair. After closing the locker he glanced up the aisle, probably being drawn by the sound of Oliver and James laughing, they were still discussing SAT exams but had now moved on to an e-mail they were sent with stupid answers to the questions people had actually wrote. Jack caught Thomas eye, who looked away and quickly sat down. He didnt look back. Was this kid afraid of me? Jack thought. It was an odd feeling as he and Thomas had been friends in primary school, inseparable almost. It was funny how things worked out. Well, Jack thought, it probably is for me.

Jack turned his attention to the headrest in front of him, and began thinking about the upcoming SATs. How could Olly and James joke about these things? The mere thought of sitting an exam that would determine your whole life scared the hell out of him. He had always dreamed of becoming a doctor, which probably had something to do with the fact that his dad was one. He'd need at least a 1300 to study pre-med at Columbia University, which was his first choice. Olly had finished talking to James and still laughing, sat back down in his seat. He glanced over at Jack,  
'Thinking about the SATs buddy?' It sounded so casual coming from his mouth, though he never had been much of a worrier, well not in the time that they had known each other. Oliver also wanted to go to Columbia, but he wanted to study politics, which seemed quite an odd choice for such an easygoing guy.

'Yeah', Jack replied sounding as if someone had just asked him if hed seen his whole family murdered before his eyes. Oliver, sensing the tone of his best friend replied,  
'Well, at least your not dumb enough to put how furry something is when asked what the meaning of the word ferocity is'. Jack couldnt help but laugh, and his worries seemed to almost disappear. He decided to not think about the SATs this weekend. This was about having fun.

Jack looked down the aisle and noticed Miss Sawyer making her way to the back of the bus. She had been their teacher for just a few months but had already made quite the impression. You'd expect young teachers to relate more to their students, she was only in her early 30s, but there was no other way to say it, Miss Sawyer was a bitch. She was always so harsh on the students and often gave out punishments for the most minor breakage of the class rules. She was fairly good looking, in a kind of domineering mistress sort of way, and often some of the lads would joke about her giving them a spanking, but Jack couldnt really see it.

She marched past them, knocking a pen out of Courtney Robinsons hand on her way to the back, not noticing the angry glare that Courtney dished her way. Almost everyone looked to see what would happen when she reached Troy Redlow. Jack however, looked down the front of the bus and saw Mr. Jones standing up, his brown plaid suit creased from the journey. He was shaking his head, looking as if hed expected this. Mr. Jones was quite cool really. He was old, and completely out of touch with the modern world, but he was a nice man who looked for the best in people, even Troy Redlow. When they'd found out that both teachers would be accompanying them on the trip, it was quite the disappointment as there were a number of teachers that Jack would have preferred.

Joanna Lowe was looking towards the back like most of the others and looked at Jack with a puzzled look on her face,

'Whats going on?', she asked him, her blue eyes staring right into his. God, she is pretty,  
'They've been smoking', he replied and then turned around and faced the back of the bus. He sensed her disappointment that the conversation did not continue, but after all he was shy, and she was pretty. She turned back to Amber Atkinson who rose in her chair and turned around. It was the first time he'd actually seen her face since she got on the bus and it was filled with a mixture of suspense and humor.

All of a sudden Jack heard a loud Bitch come from the back of the bus and Miss Sawyer walked back down the aisle, cigarette in hand.  
'Did you hear me, Bitch?', Troy Redlow shouted from the back but she didn't even glance back. She simply walked to an empty pair of seats towards the front of the bus and threw the cigarette out of the window.

'Shut up, losers', Heather King (female student #8 shouted out from her position behind Kaitlyn Summers, and the whole class laughed. Heather was probably the harshest of Kaitlyns group, but at least she had the courage to say what everyone else was thinking. Jack would say that much for her. Some people could have said that Heather King was just as stunning as Kaitlyn, but in a different way. Her hair was brown and flowed just past her shoulders and her eyes were crystal blue, but they contained a severity that Kaitlyns didnt. In fact the struggle for the coveted position of best looking girl could have easily gone to Heather, or Terri Chaney, or even Joanna but Kaitlyn won out every time. It was just one of those things.

The rest of the students settled back into their seats and Jack looked out of the window. The bus was driving along a small main road, past numerous fields and houses. Occasionally he would see people but he got the feeling that this area of the country was fairly sparse. The bus suddenly entered a tunnel, which seemed to come out of nowhere, and Jack found himself looking at his reflection. He could see Courtney leaning over her chair in the window, talking to Kaitlyn. She had an excited look on her face, as if telling her some salacious piece of gossip. Courtney knew everything about everyone, most likely before they even knew it themselves.

Jack could also see Joanna, staring towards the front of the bus and then turning back round to talk to Amber. Natalie Foster was in her usual position; perched up talking to them, smile on face. Jack looked at himself, and ran his hand through his hair, thinking to himself that it needed a good wash; he'd overslept this morning and had been unable to have a shower.

What happened next startled him slightly. The lights on the school coach suddenly went out, sending the bus into complete darkness. Someone down the front of the bus screamed, Jack thought it was a girl, but he couldnt be too sure.

'Calm down everyone'. Mr. Jones had stood up at the front of the coach and was now addressing the class. 'Its only the lights. This old thing has been begging to be replaced so its not really much of a surprise!' He breathed deeply and with an air of annoyance, as if his foresight could have stopped this incident. 'Just calm down, well be out of the tunnel in a few minutes anyway'. With that he sat back down, or Jack guessed he had.

He turned to Olly, who he could make out from the small bits of light emitted from the window, probably due to passing cars.  
'Exciting', Oliver said in a rather forced British accent. Jack smiled, not that Olly could see anyway and replied,  
'Rather, old chum'. He heard Olly chuckle.

Suddenly Jack felt something on top of his head. He froze instantly before realizing it was the hands of Joel Becker, probably trying the get a cheap scare out of him to impress the girls.

'Oh, I love these hands', Jack said sarcasticly, grabbing them and pulling them down, 'Im going to lick em all over'.  
'Oh, your sick man', Joel replied from behind him and pulled his hands back. Olly was still laughing.

Jack looked forward towards the front of the coach and could just make out the rows of seats in the darkness. A little bit of time passed. Something felt weird, not right. It was really quiet. The only thing he could hear was the stupid laughter of Troy Redlow at the back of the bus. God, I wish he would just shut up. He felt tired all of a sudden and turned to Oliver, whom he now saw had fallen asleep with his head against the window, it quickly bouncing up and down with the vibrations. Jack was about to say something when the darkness overtook him as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first thought Jack McTelford (male student #12) had when he slowly began to wake up was that his head was resting on something solid. It was cold but a warm slither of drool had dripped down the side of his face and onto the desk on which he was sprawled over. It was an uncomfortable feeling and before opening his eyes, he tried to guess how on earth he had managed to fall asleep in such an awkward position.

He then realized that he surely could not be on the bus anymore. He opened his eyes, and surveyed the dark room in from of him.

He was in a classroom, very similar to the one at there school in Autumn Coast. A large white board stood out at the front of the room, reflecting the little amount of moonlight, which came in through the windows. There were two televisions, one either side of the teachers desk, mounted upon wooden units roughly six feet off the ground, obviously so the students at the back would also have a clear view.

It was then that he realized that he was sat in the seat he usually sat in form class, which was always in boy-girl alphabetical order, placing him in the second to last seat of the 4th column. As he slowly lifted his head up he saw the short dark bob of Lily Miller (female student #12) sat on the chair in front of him. She was also asleep but was leaning back against the chair as opposed to sprawled over the table like he had been. This made it look like her head was at an unnatural angle and her body looked almost lifeless.

Suddenly Jacks emotions took over. Why the hell was everyone here? Maybe the coach had a crash or something? But Jack knew he was fooling himself, they'd all be at hospital instead of sat at desks in their class order in some unknown school.

Then Jack remembered how Olly (Jack looked over to do the desk directly in front and to the right of his, and saw Oliver Lloyd (male student #10) was sprawled over his desk asleep just as he had been) had fallen asleep on the coach before he had. He remembered that the whole coach suddenly went quiet and then he blacked out. What on earth could have happened? Something felt really strange. The situation itself would have been construed that way but something else was wrong and as he looked at Olly he noticed what it was.

On Olivers left wrist, which was dangling over the side of the desk, there was a metal band wrapped around tightly, only perhaps an inch thick but defiantly noticeable. Jack would normally have presumed it was a watch, but Olly hated any type of metal jewellery and never wore one. Jack tried to get a better look at it, and he realized that it wasn't a watch as there was no face on it. Then he suddenly remembered and looked at his own wrist. There, on his own, was the same metallic band. Along the center was written J McTelford B12, which stood for his name and class number. Aside from that he could only derive that it had no other purpose, which only achieved to unsettle him further.

Jack sat up straight in his chair. It appeared he was the only one awake. He'd never really been much of a sleeper, managing only a few hours a night usually, but he was surprised that he was the first one awake as his body felt physically drained, and under any normal circumstances he may have put his head back onto the desk and drifted back to sleep.

He looked to the left, through the large, square windows the room had periodically along the outer wall. He could make out that it was night, and he saw some trees swaying in the breeze. They couldn't possibly back in ACH, as he didn't recognize it at all. He turned around to the desk behind him. Joanna Lowe (female student #11) was also hunched over the desk, though her head was resting on her arms, which were folded on the table in front of her. He could not see if she was wearing a bracelet like he and Olly were, but he presumed she was. Cory Matthews (male student #11) was sat next to her on the back row, though he was sat the same way Lucy was in front of him. He also had a metallic band around his wrist.

As he looked back towards the front of the class, something caught his eye. Someone was sat behind the desk at the front of the class, but Jack couldn't make out who it was at that time. It was too dark. The thought of someone watching him made him feel uneasy.

He looked towards the right hand side of the classroom, where the frosted glass windows hid the view towards the corridor outside and something else caught his eye. Rachelle Ellinger (female student #5) had also woken up and was now looking towards Jack, fear in her eyes. Jack didn't really like Rachelle. She was a troublemaker and her reputation when it came to the subject of sex had well preceded her, but right now it was as if they were the only people in the world, and he shared her fear. He looked her and smiled awkwardly as if to reassure her that everything would be okay. She smiled back in a similar fashion and turned to face the person at the front of the classroom. Clearly she was as confused about the whole situation as he was.

Jack and Rachelle kept quiet as the rest of the students woke up, and the classroom was filled with hushed whispered as the perplexed teenagers tried to figure out what had happened.

Where the hell are we?  
Were you asleep as well?  
Who is that?  
I dont remember a thing  
What is going on?

Oliver Lloyd had woken up with the rest of the class and was turned, facing Jack with a puzzled look on his face. His usual animated personality was gone and had been replaced by what looked like anxiousness.

It was a difficult situation, everybody seemed to know that something was wrong, but the circumstances of the situation made everyone, even the jocks, too scared to even get out of their seats. Only scared whispers and hushed words filled the room.

It was only when Terri Chaney (female student #3) stood up from her seat in the first column (next to the frosted glass windows) and began to make her way towards her boyfriend in the back row that something happened. The room was filled with lights, which seemed to come from nowhere, and Jack and the rest of the students shielded their faces from the blinding glare. Even Terri Chaney stopped in her tracks in front of Rachel Day (female student #4) to cover her eyes. It was odd. Jack kept his eyes covered, half from the intense light and half from the fear of not wanting to know what he would see.

'Sit down Miss Chaney', was said from the front of the class. It was a female voice that was gentle but assertive. Jack recognized it but could not picture where he had heard it before. He slowly lifted his head and, sat at the front of the classroom, he saw the face of Miss Sawyer, with a blank emotionless expression on her face.

'I said sit down', she barked at the class, obviously losing her temper as Terri Chaney was still stood in the place she had stopped. She slowly walked towards her desk in the second the last row and sat down, almost pouting at the fact that she was unable to see her beloved. The rest of the students looked at each other confused, and obviously unsure about where they are.

Lucy Purbeck (female student #16) stood up,  
'Whats going on Miss? What happened to the bus?' Miss Sawyer looked angry and cut her off before she had time to ask another question.

'You will only speak when spoken to Lucy'. Lucy sat back down, and looked annoyed that her question had gone unanswered. Lucy was the class spokesperson and was used to knowing everything before anyone else.

Jack liked her; she was loud spoken, but sort of funny in her own way.

'Is that understood?' Miss Sawyer asked. Lucy just looked back at her, intentionally not answering as a result of her question going unanswered. Jack felt the tension in the room grow, and Sawyer repeated her question, this time calmer but with the slight tone of what seemed like a threat. Lucy looked over to her right, where Olly Lloyd gave her a look (Jack couldn't really make out what kind of look it was) but it seemed to bring Lucy back to reality,

'Yes', she answered back weakly. It was widely known that there was some kind of relationship between Oliver and Lucy. When Jack asked him about it, Olly replied that it was nothing more than friendship, but Jack got the feeling that maybe Lucy wanted more whereas Olly didn't. It was a tricky subject. Sawyer looked at the whole class,

'That goes for all of you'.

Jack looked around the classroom and surveyed the expressions on his classmates faces. Katy Larson (female student #10), who was sat on his right, looked towards him and raised her eyebrows, as if to say she hadn't the slightest idea what the hell was going on. Kate was a nice girl really. She could be a little bitchy sometimes, but she kept it to a minimum, and usually she was considerate and polite.

Courtney Robinson (female student #17) who sat on his left just stared at Miss Sawyer with a drained look on her face. She probably hadn't forgiven her for knocking the pen out of her hand on the bus.

Mark Vale (male student #19) sat on the other side of Courtney and he also just stared towards the front of the class. Mark was one of the jocky guys, but Jack didn't really like him that much. He was quite reserved and always wore an almost listless expression on his face, as if he was bored with life. His hair was slicked back which Jack thought gave him a villainous appearance, but he knew that sometimes he read a bit too much into things and Mark Vale was probably just shy.

'Welcome to Freedman Island Miss Sawyer said to the whole class'. Jack just looked back at her thinking what the hell?

'Welcome to your activity weekend', Sawyer said this with a half smile on her face that would only be noticeable if you knew how her regular expression was. 'The object of the weekend is to become the winner, to eliminate all the competition'.

Eliminate? Thought Jack, that was a strange word to use. Suddenly someone piped up from the back,

'What the #$ is going on?', It was Sean Talbot (male student #18) . Miss Sawyer immediately stood up and shouted,

'If you talk once more without being asked, then I swear to god you will get whats coming to you!' Jack looked around to his left and saw Sean Talbot look around the class before sitting back in his seat. He looked as though he was about to cry, which was more than a little unusual for one of Troy Redlow's gang.

'Now, Im going to explain the rules for you all', everyone looked around, the room was filled with the feeling of apprehension. 'The idea of the game is to kill each other off, until there is only one person left. That person is the winner'. The class filled with a mixture of horror and humor. It seemed that not all of the students believed Miss Sawyer.

'You think Im joking?' asked Sawyer looking smug, 'Bring him in!' she shouted.

Jack had no idea what was going on but he knew that he wasn't going to like it. A gurney was wheeled into the classroom, and a large black sheet covered whatever was underneath.

'Mr. Jones served this country well and I thought it was a pity to do what I had to, but this is life'. She pulled the sheet off the gurney, and there laid Mr. Jones, his plaid suit covered in red, blood obviously, and a small hole in his forehead.

The class screamed but nobody moved out of their seats. It seemed that everyone decided that it was not worth the risk.

'Calm down everyone', Sawyer shouted. 'Mr. Jones had a full life. I was wishing that maybe some other teacher would be accompanying me here, like one of those idiotic PE teachers you all seem to like so much, but Mr. Jones paid the price. He was too soft on you all; he was not a good role model'.  
'I'll explain shall I? You are part of a secretly funded government project to see how students react in war like situations. Each of you has a psychological profile, which was put together by an elite team. The object of this game is to see who will become the best warriors, and who will be eliminated first. Each of you has different odds, and well be keeping track of you throughout the game'. Jack looked down at his bracelet, Congratulations, you are all going to be very helpful for you country.

Jack looked back at Katy Larson, who looked over and gave a classic _you've got to be kidding_ look. Oliver turned around and pulled a face at Jack that conveyed a feeling of fear and annoyance. He always said that the American government were power hungry, corrupt lunatics; I was beginning to believe him.

'Now, this video will explain everything'. Sawyer walked over to the video, at the same time 3 soldiers with machine guns entered the room and stood to attention by the desk.  
The video began playing.

The American National Anthem glided out of the speakers and an image of a flag blowing in the wind was shown. The words The US Program flashed up onto the screen.  
Suddenly a man in a military uniform was shown and he began to address the students,  
'Good Morning Class A, Junior Year, Autumn Coast High School and he saluted at the screen'. This was more than weird, Jack thought to himself, 'you have all been selected to aid the American government in its War Strategies program. Congratulations'. _Oh yeah, thanks, Im so honoured_

'You are on Freedman Island, just 5 miles off the coast of North Carolina. In case any of you didnt know, this is what the island looks like'. A digital image of the island, including contours was shown in three-dimensional imagery. The island was roughly square shaped but looked like it had been chopped in half and the right side had been lowered down slightly. The Military guy appeared in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and continued talking,

'Its roughly 3 and a miles along, east to west and 2 and a miles north to south, so there is plenty of room for you all to play. The island has been divided up into zones the map now had a grid over it, which will determine your movements on the island. Every six hours your teacher, the lovely Miss Sawyer' huh? 'Will broadcast updates to you all about which zones will be becoming danger zones'. A square on the television flashed red and then stopped; the words danger appeared on the bottom of the screen. 'If you are in one of these zones when it is called, you should evacuate immediately as the danger is… yourselves'.

The classroom was deadly silent. The arrival of Mr. Jones corpse had shocked everyone into knowing that this was for real, but now the introduction that we were a danger to ourselves had everyone on the edge of his or her seat.

'The bracelets that you are all wearing, yes take a good look if you have not yet noticed, are all fitted with an electronic device'. Some of the students in the class were still in shock and hadn't even noticed that they were wearing one. Jack guessed most of them just thought it was their watches. 'If you are caught in a danger zone, or start causing trouble, or pretty much just pissing us off', he showed a dangerous smile, and carried on. 'We will identify you…which will trigger an alarm' and he mimed the action of someone slashing their throat 'and your eliminated! Inside the bracelet is a tiny needle, which if triggered, will inject a small but lethal, and extremely painful poison into your veins. Try not to go out that way huh? Its not very honourable'.

The class still sat in silence, now from shock. Miss Sawyer stood up from the desk in front of her, 'All right then, Any Questions?'

Stephen Delaney stood up from his chair in the left hand corner of the classroom, 'Why are you doing this Miss'?

Miss Sawyer looked at him, 'I work for the government, I was placed in your school to gain a perspective on what you are all like, and to write your odds and monitor your personalities'. It seemed they had been tricked from the start. Suddenly her military like running of the classroom seemed to make sense.

Lucy Purbeck stood up.

'Yes Lucy, now you can ask a question', Sawyer said with a subtle twinkle in her eye.

'You just expect us to kill each other'? Lucy looked completely stunned.

'Well', she said, walking to the front of her desk, 'you don't have to kill anyone, but I'll bet a few of your classmates will be after you Lucy'. Sawyer stared right into her, and Lucy looked as though she was going to burst into tears. Jacks attention was drawn to the right; Oliver had just stood up,

'That's out of order Miss Sawyer', he said,

'Ah Mr. Lloyd, I was wondering if you'd jump to the defence of your girlfriend, and just like a good respectable English boy you did!'

'She's not my girlfriend…' he began to say when Sawyer cut him off,

'I know, I know', said Sawyer exhaling as though she was bored, 'I know who you really like Oliver…Shall we tell Lucy who it is? See if we can get some anger to kick-start this game off. Something tells me Lucy could take the other girl, the shy demure type is no match for her kind…or are you…' Sawyer was just about to say the girls name when Olly cut her off,

'OK! I'm sorry', he said, 'there's no need for this'

'Just so you know Master Lloyd', she said condescendingly 'I can do whatever I like', she was playing with them; a complete psycho thought Jack, 'However, I'll keep quiet for now, see if Lucy can figure out who she is'.

The classroom was quiet and Lucy and Olly were now the only students stood up. Lucy was looking directly at Olly with tears in her eyes. Sawyer's revelation had hurt her more than anything could. Olly looked back at her and mouthed that he was sorry. Lucy just nodded and sat down.

'Anyone else'? She asked. Suddenly there was a burst of laughter, which rose up from the classroom. Jack pinpointed it straight away, Natalie Foster (female student # 6). She was laughing loudly and stood up,

'Are we on television?'' she asked 'this seems like a trick TV programme.'

'No, you are not Miss Foster, now sit down'

'Whatever, Mr. Jones looked so fake' she continued to laugh, 'where are the cameras hidden, can I keep my wristband? It looks well cool'

'Foster if you don't sit down then I will have to eliminate you for disturbing the class'. Sawyer was as calm as could be,

'Yeah alright then', Natalie said sarcastically, 'Shoot me!'

Miss Sawyer then took a shotgun from one of the soldiers present and aimed it at Natalie. The class was in anticipation. Were they on reality television? Had Natalie just called the bluff? Jack lowered in his seat, something was wrong; this was not a television programme.

'Last chance Natalie!'

'Whatever', she was still laughing, 'Jo, Amber come on, you know this is fake…'

That was the last thing she ever said. Sawyer pulled the trigger and a large hole blasted through Natalie's stomach, throwing blood all over James Hunter (male student # 6) and Amber Atkinson (female student # 2) who were sat behind and to the left of her. Natalie Foster's body collapsed backwards, falling onto James desk, and then onto the floor. A pile of red blood flowed out from under her. The class was silent, everyone was stunned, suddenly someone screamed and all hell broke loose.

Chairs went flying as all the students began to scramble to the front of the class where the door was located, the only exit from the classroom. The tables were scattered towards the edges of the classroom and the students were screaming and shouting. Jack also found himself in a mad dash to escape. Suddenly there was gunfire, though as Jack looked around he was relived to see that the soldiers were firing at the ceiling. The class then ran in what seemed like complete unison to the back of the room, and huddled together, cowering away from their captors.

The main area of the classroom was deserted except for the bloody corpse of Natalie Foster, the class clown, and her two best friends Amber Atkinson and Joanna Lowe, who were kneeling over her body, crying. They hadn't even tried to escape, so overcome with grief for their friend. The class suddenly became silent and all that could be heard was the faint tears of the two girls. Jack felt like he was going to be sick.

'Get away from her', Sawyer shouted to them, but they didn't even move. They just continued to sit on the floor and call her name out. 'If you don't move away from her then we will be forced to remove you', she continued to say.

Jack looked at them, and decided that something needed to be done. Sawyer was now pointing the shotgun at Joanna. Jack stepped forward and before Sawyer knew what was going on had lifted Joanna up by her arms and cradled her to the back of the classroom. Oliver, seeing Jacks lead, rushed over and collected Amber the same way. She burst into tears and hugged him tightly.

'Very admirable gentlemen', Sawyer shouted out. She then looked over at Lucy, who was looking towards Oliver and Amber. 'I know what your thinking Lucy, Is it her?' and began to laugh. Lucy looked shocked and turned to face Heather King. Oliver then let go of Amber, embarrassed, who rushed over to Joanna and Jack, and the two girls continued to hug and cry.

'Play the video!' she shouted, returning to her desk. The students still hovered at the back of the classroom, but were leaning forward in anticipation now. Nobody thought that this was a game. It was real life, and they needed to know the rules.

The military dressed man on the screen returned and was stood in front of a table.

'Now', he said, 'you will all be issued with a survival pack for the game. Each pack contains some food and water'. He lifted up a loaf of bread and a bottle of water from the table. 'It also contains a map and a pen, so mark off the danger zones when you hear them. There is also a compass', he began to smile, 'so all you scouts out there should have no trouble with that'. The students were all listening intently, afraid to miss even a single detail.

'You will be leaving by class number, in boy girl alternating order, and each of you will receive a weapon at random, which will be supplied in your bags. These range from machine guns to spoons, so whatever you get will be down to luck. This eliminates natural advantages'. Jack continued to listen to the television, but strangely found himself agreeing that this was the fairest way. What's wrong with me, he thought, this is sick.

'Good Luck Class A' he now smiled into the camera, 'were counting on you!'

The camera then panned out to a body shot of the soldier, and he began to read out names.

Natalie Foster  
Female Student number 06 ELIMINATED  
39 Students remaining


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
'Male Student Number 1: Matthew Adams'  
Everyone turned towards the left hand side of the room by the windows that led out into the wall, and there, in between some scattered tables and chairs that had been left lying around after the panic of earlier stood Matthew, alone. Matthew was a good guy, fairly clever; Jack presumed that he would at least make the merit role next year as his calm approach to work never let him down. But from the look on his face now he showed anything but calm. He practically jumped over to the stand where a rucksack was thrown at him. He then turned around and looked at his classmates, and Jack could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn't consider any of the people he was looking at friends. With that he frowned and ran out of the room. There was a silence of perhaps twenty seconds until the man on the television called out the next name.

'Female Student Number 1: Sarah Anderson'  
Sarah was stood with her friend Veronica Norris (female student # 13) on the right hand side of the room and she let out a small shriek when her name was called out. Tears were streaming down her face and she ran to the front of the room where a bag was thrown at her. Sarah was a rather large girl who would usually be described as a loser, though Jack had been paired up with her in a biology practical last term and deemed her to be a rather pleasant girl. She also looked back at the class and smiled to her friend slightly before running out after Matthew.

The classroom was in utter silence. Nobody dared speak.

Male Student Number 2: Joel Becker  
The whole class looked towards Joel Becker who was stood in the center of the classroom next to Kaitlyn Summers (female student # 18). He turned towards Kaitlyn, gently touched her cheek and kissed her on the lips. It would have been inappropriate if they were not always so physical with each other. She was crying and she reached after him as he walked towards the front and was thrown his pack. He raised his hand and slightly waved as he looked back at the class. Jack found himself raise his own hand in reply, as did Oliver, James Hunter (male student # 6) and Stephen Delaney (male student # 4). Cory nodded slightly as his arms were wrapped around Terri Chaney. Then he completely unexpectedly blew a kiss at Kaitlyn and walked out of the classroom.

Female Student Number 2: Amber Atkinson  
Amber was stood next to Joanna, who was in turn on the left hand side of Jack. He turned to look at her and saw Amber lean in and give Joanna a hug. Amber whispered 'I'm going Jo,' to which Joanna replied back in a voice of uncontrollable anguish 'good luck'. Amber took one last look at her friend and then made her way to the front of the classroom. To do so she had to walk past the body of Natalie Foster, the third in the trio of the neutral girls and doing so she held out her arm over her face and caught her bag as if to shield her from the awful sight. Amber had always been a rather big nerd when they were younger, but when Joanna moved into town, she made friends with Amber, almost rejecting open arms from the popular girls, which completely brought Amber out of her shell. The Amber who was walking out of the room may have been scared and afraid, but she was also pretty, outgoing and well liked. Jack noticed that Oliver, who was stood on his right, now had a tear streaming down his face and was watching her intensely.

Joanna suddenly began to cry and shake at the same time, separated from both her best friends within the space of five minutes. Not wanting to draw any attention to her, Jack grabbed her and hugged her tightly. He noticed it felt nice to have a girl in his arms.

Adam Bryce (male student #3) left in pretty much the same fashion, but when Terri Chaney (female student #3) had her name called out, she instantly turned around and whispered something into her boyfriends ear. Sawyer shouted at her to hurry up but Terri looked as though she wasn't even listening. She stared intensely at Cory, who just looked into her eyes and nodded, a blank look on his quivering face. With that she hugged him tightly and then ran to the front of the room. Terri was so elegant. One of the tallest and slimmest girls in the class, she had the look of a Manhattan socialite, her long dark hair neatly tousled, fell way past her shoulders. Jack wondered what she had whispered to him, perhaps a place to meet? But how would they know where to go? Maybe just a general direction? He liked Terri; she was sweet and good-natured, which was a bonus as she spent a lot of time hanging around with them. Cory and Terri never seemed to be apart, and he was fiercely protective of her, one bad word and you were on his list.

Jack got lost in his own thoughts while the next batch of students left the room. This included Stephen Delaney, who had left after Terri, and James Hunter, who had just left a moment ago. Then something snapped him out of his daze and sent a shiver running down his spine.

Female Student Number 6: Natalie Foster  
Everyone who was left in the classroom automatically looked at the dead, bullet-ridden body of the class' funniest girl. Natalie had been lying untouched on the right hand side of the room since she had been shot, and Amber and Joanna had been pulled away from her. Miss Sawyer just stared at them, unaffected by the surge of emotion that had now swept across the classroom. It was deadly silent, nobody said anything, and Jack just hugged Joanna more tightly, trying to protect her from the awful sight that lay before them.

When Lee Jacobs (male student #7) was called out, he looked as if he were about to burst into tears. It must have felt ominous, taking Natalie's place in the running order. Letting go of Lori Finnigan's hand (female student #7), he grabbed his bag from the front of the room and looked back at the class before turning on his heels and getting the hell away from this situation.

Again, more students left and before he'd even noticed it he heard his best friends name being called out.

Male Student Number 10: Oliver Lloyd  
It was very odd to hear his full name; everyone had always just called him Olly. The class looked around to where Olly was stood on Jacks right hand side. Jack also looked at his best friend. Olly turned towards him and patted him on the shoulder, as he was still hugging Joanna tightly, and she also looked at Olly.

'See you soon buddy' was all he said before walking to the front of the class and collecting his bag. He then turned around and did the obligatory look back. Ollys eyes looked like the complete opposite of Mathews. Jack couldn't think of a single person in the room who didn't like his best friend, he was such a good guy, even Troy Redlow's bunch of delinquents seemed to get along with him, and his look was one of sorrow, as if he knew that he would never see any of these people again. Lucy was now stood in between the rest of the class and the front. He looked at her and smiled, and behind her tears she also smiled. He then looked at Jack and Joanna. With that he spun around and jogged out of the room.

Female Student Number 10: Katy Larson  
Katy was stood with Kaitlyn just behind Jack. After they hugged Katy looked around at her fellow classmates and it was clear she had no idea whether to try and smile or to burst into tears. She ran to the front of the room, collected her bag and then ran off down the corridor, she didn't even look back.

Male Student Number 11: Cory Matthews  
Cory had been stood in the back left hand corner of the classroom, obviously unsure what to do now that Terri had gone. He walked through the rest of the class and looked at his friends with a blank look on his face. The thing about Cory though, was that you could see the kindness in his eyes, and Jack instantly knew that he was going off in search of Terri. 'Good Luck', Jack mouthed to him as he passed by and Cory smiled. He grabbed his rucksack and ran down the corridor.

Jack was even more unprepared for what came next.

Female Student Number 11: Joanna Lowe  
Joanna's whole body tensed up in his arms. She looked up at him and he remembered how pretty she was, her tear stained bright blue eyes seemed so beautiful. He suddenly remembered that his number was 12 so they would leave right next to each other. He decided in that moment that he would protect her, until the end. She had seen one of her best friends struck down before her very eyes, and according to the rest of the class she was in love with him, after months of not speaking to her it was the least he could do. 'Wait for me', he whispered to her as she began to turn. She stopped and looked at him intensely before nodding and running towards the front of the class. She also never looked back.

Jack waited the 30 seconds or so for his name to be called out. It seemed to take forever.

Male Student Number 12: Jack McTelford  
Jack walked straight up to the rack and was thrown his bag. He turned around and quickly looked at the rest of the class whose numbers had yet to be called out. There were a few people left whom he really liked. Oscar Price (male student #16) was a cool guy and of course there were Kaitlyn and Lucy still looking back at him. He suddenly realized how awful it must be to be the last person leaving the classroom. Jack quickly derived that this honour would go to female student #20, Jessica Whittaker, who was stood at the back with Amy Norton. Knowing that there was already 39 people with weapons out there couldn't be a nice thought, and he silently thanked his ancestors for putting the Mc on the front of his name otherwise he would also be one of the last to leave. With this strange thought he turned around and headed out of the door.

As he half walked, half jogged down the corridor which ran parallel to the classroom, he noticed the sheer quantity of guards which were stood to attention all the way down, obviously there to keep the students from doing anything against the rules. He made his way down towards the double doors, which were most likely the main entrance to this fairly small and poor excuse for a school. As he did a series of memories began to creep into his head. Their regular crowd was sat in Joel's bedroom, which Jack would more appropriately call the ballroom, as it was twice the size of his own (Joel's father was a very successful lawyer in Norfolk).  
Hey guys said Olly as he walked in the room, he'd quickly gone home after practice to tell his parents something before they went out as he lived just around the corner from Joel. Have you seen the sign up board for the Junior dare show?  
James Hunter and Stephen Delaney started laughing,

'Yeah, who the hell would do that?'

The Junior dare show was an annual event where groups of students wrote there names on a board at school and the seniors would anonymously dare them to perform something at the show. They had to do whatever was dared or face a forfeit, well within reason.

'We should do it, it'd be a laugh', he said,

'No way' said Joel, 'I want to keep my popularity' he continued laughing. Jack looked over at Olly and shrugged.

'You know Joel, Your not popular because you follow the trends and care what people think' Olly answered, 'your popular because that's who you are. Why not do it?'

These were the kinds of things that Olly often came out with, and they were an interesting and different perception on how life should be lived.

Joel looked over at him and then at Jack with a surprised but prided look on his face, who smiled and said, 'I suppose it could be fun' he said,

'Count me out', Stephen added,

'Im in', came a voice from the computer. It was Mark Vale, who Jack would have been sure would never have entered the Junior dare show.

'Cool' Olly said, looking at Jack,

'Yeah OK' he replied,

'James?' Olly asked,

'Oh all right then. Come on Joel, what's the worst that could happen?' Joel looked apprehensive but then smiled at his friends,

'Sure'. The guys laughed,  
'What about you Cory boy?' Jack asked Cory who was playing with his phone, obviously sending a text to Terri,

'Ah no thanks, not much of a stage person', he said still looking down at his cellular. He started laughing, 'There's five of you, and maybe you'll make a good boy band'. Everyone laughed.

Jack was astonished that Olly had made that happen, usually the guys would have stayed clear of that, deeming it a thing for losers or girls. Jack realized that since Ollys arrival a year ago many things have changed. People were more relaxed and willing to try things they wouldn't have done before. Olly said it was because he was determined to make the most of his American High School experience and that they shouldn't waste it either.

Well Cory had been right, they were dared to perform a boy-band song, which Jack thought they performed, and sang, rather well. It was actually a good laugh to do and they had many good times practicing together. They didn't win but received the biggest applause.

The memory faded and Jack realized he was smiling and the guard just by the door must have thought he was a strange young guy, or a complete psychopath. He'd probably never experience anything like that again and his smile suddenly dropped. He hoped Joanna would be waiting for him and as he stepped out of the doors he realized something was wrong. She wasn't there and he was confused.

Had she become scared and run off? Did she not trust him?

'Joanna', he said quietly, wondering what was going on,

'Get down!' came Joanna's voice from the behind the wall of the stairs.

Something was wrong, very wrong. He jumped over the wall and almost landed on Joanna who was crouched down by the edge.

'What happened?' he asked, she looked petrified which was strange as usually Joanna was confident and proud.

'Someone took a shot at me' she said quickly, 'I only have a knife so we cant move'.

Jack suddenly remembered that he would also have a weapon and he dug into his pack to retrieve it. His hand clutched something hard and cold, so he pulled it out. It was what looked like a small shotgun, and he thanked god (even though he was an atheist) that he had something that he could retaliate with, and a shotgun was probably one of the best weapons he could have been given. He had no idea how to use it but stood up and fired a shot into the bushes, not really aiming at anything at all, hoping to just scare away whoever was attacking them.  
They waited, remaining deadly silent until they heard some rumbling in the bushes. Perhaps that was the shooter leaving the area, or maybe the shooter was advancing towards them. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation and fear, and neither Jack, nor Joanna dared say anything.

The school entrance door opened and somebody walked outside. Jack deduced that this must be Lily Miller as she was the next student to follow him out of the classroom. He considered standing up and asking her to join them, but then realized she may be armed and could attack him straight away. He liked Lily though, she sometimes looked a little gothic, but it was her edgy style and over zealous personality that made her who she was. He heard a shriek and the sound of her shoes on the gravel path. He remained quiet and Lily took off to the left, which meant that Jack could see her running away. He felt guilty for not calling to her, and also using her to indicate whether the shooter had left the area, which he or she obviously had. He hoped that Lily would be safe, or as safe as someone could be in this game.

'Lets go', Joanna whispered, someone else will be out in a minute,

'Yeah, Brent' Jack said. He didn't really know Brent Neil (male student # 13) that much. As the only black guy in the class he always assumed that Brent felt a little out of place; the area of Autumn Coast was a predominantly white Christian area but Jack always got the impression that he was a solid, good guy, who was friends with everyone.

'Lets go then' Jack added, standing up and grabbing Joanna's hand. Joanna also got up from her crouching position, blushing a little that Jack was holding her hand, though it was dark and he couldn't see, which she was grateful for. They took off down the path to the left. Jack running ahead, and Joanna slightly behind him. Hands tightly together.

Jack looked around checking to see if Brent had exited the school yet when he saw the body of Kimberly Lambert (female student # 9) lying on the floor by the school stairs. She was obviously dead, and Jack deduced that this was the reason for Lily Millers outburst, as they were close friends. Jack didn't have time to think of Kim now. What mattered was getting Joanna to a safe place, though as they ran into the dark, he felt a twinge of guilt for not having a second to remember one of his classmates.

Kimberly Lambert  
Female Student number 09 ELIMINATED  
38 Students remaining


End file.
